Environmental award for A52 in Nottinghamshire

Work by the Highways Agency to reconstruct part of the A52 has won an environmental award for its innovative use of recycled material and reduction in CO2 emissions. The scheme has been selected as joint winner in the environmental section of Alfred McAlpine’s Corporate Responsibility Awards, and was designed by AMScott, with technical input from Tarmac and Scott Wilson Pavement Engineers, the Agency’s contractor based in Mansfield. The safety improvement work took place last autumn and involved reconstructing both the east and westbound carriageways of the A52 at Radcliffe-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire.

Re-surfacing the eastbound carriageway A52.

Environmental Features

Nick Lowe, Project Manager at AMScott, explained that the use of a cold recycled base material allowed the existing hazardous coal tar material, which had been identified within the lower layers of the pavement, to be recycled back into the new pavement construction without the need for expensive treatment and removal to tip. Re-using these materials on site reduced the amount of raw materials needing processing for production of the new highway pavement and transporting to the site. Overall it offered substantial environmental benefits. Cold recycling contributes to a reduction in energy, fuel and material consumption. The lower mixing temperatures reduce the energy needed to produce these materials compared to conventional hot bituminous materials. The plant for re-cycling was sited within 5 miles of the site thus reducing the journey lengths & time for haulage vehicles. The reduction of HGV movements in transporting raw materials and waste meant that CO2 emissions were far less than traditional pavement construction techniques.

Budget

Using a cold recycled base material produced cost savings of up to 40% compared to the more-traditional methods as the coarse aggregates were recycled”.

Departure from standard

Although the technique required a departure from standards as the proposed traffic design life exceeds 30 million standard axles, the Highways Agency is now encouraging its use on a wider scale.

Success

Kam Khokhar, project sponsor Highways Agency said, ”We are delighted that this project has been selected for an award. Not only was the work vital to ensure the safe provision of the carriageway and finished a week ahead of schedule, but we were able to play our part in protecting the environment while doing this.”

For further information, please contact Kam Khokar Highways Agency, Room C3, 5 Broadway, Broad Street, Birmingham. B15 1BL (E-mail kamaljit.kohar@highways.gsi.gov.uk) or Nick Lowe, AMScott, Network Headquarters, The Willows, Ransom Wood Business Park, Southwell Road, Mansfield. NG21 0HJ (E-mail Nick.Lowe@amscott7.com).